Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 vs. Motorola Razr Ultra: Which is the better buy?

Mat Smith for Engadget

Let's beryllium honorable — nan surface is thing astir of america attraction astir rather a bit. After all, you'll beryllium staring astatine each day. Both phones present bright, vivid AMOLED panels, but nan Razr Ultra pushes further connected paper. Its 7.0-inch main show peaks astatine 5,000 nits and runs astatine 165Hz, compared to nan Flip 8's 6.9-inch sheet astatine 120Hz and up to 3,000 nits. In real-world use, nan quality successful refresh complaint is noticeable erstwhile scrolling, while nan quality successful surface brightness whitethorn beryllium rather noticeable successful nonstop sunlight.

That said, nan Flip 8's screen show marks a awesome measurement guardant for Samsung, addressing 1 point that irritated astir users — nan constricted widget-based screen. The Z Flip 8 now offers afloat app functionality natively, truthful you won't person to download other apps. While Razr Ultra continues to lead successful position of earthy show specs, Samsung has narrowed nan usability spread pinch its caller FlexWindow upgrade. On screen surface specs, nan Razr Ultra's 4.0-inch sheet runs astatine 165Hz versus nan Flip 8's 4.1-inch sheet astatine either 60 aliases 120Hz.

When it comes to design, nan Flip 8 is intelligibly nan much pocketable phone. At 180g and 6.1mm bladed erstwhile unfolded, it's lighter and sleeker than nan Razr Ultra, which weighs successful astatine 199g and measures 7.2mm unfolded. When folded, nan Razr Ultra is of people chunkier astatine 15.7mm versus nan Flip 8's 13.1mm. If you often transportation your telephone successful a pants pocket, nan Flip 8 wins.

As acold arsenic creation goes, Samsung sticks to what it knows and offers a bunch of colour options (Graphite, Cream, Pink and Mint) for its solid and metallic smartphone. The Razr Ultra, connected nan different hand, comes pinch immoderate much options, offering a quilted Alcantara backmost for nan Orient Blue exemplary aliases an existent wood decorativeness for its Cocoa variant.

Both phones person an IP48 rating, offering protection from h2o immersion up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. That 4 successful IP48 indicates that particles larger than 1mm are blocked, but good soil and particulate tin still get into nan hinge area, truthful you should support that successful mind sloppy of which telephone you spell with.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

On paper, this is wherever nan phones disagree most. The Razr Ultra packs 3 50MP cameras — a LOFIC-sensor main camera, a 50MP ultrawide and a 50MP selfie shooter — and supports 8K video recording. The caller Z Flip 8 carries a 50MP main, a 12MP ultrawide and a 10MP selfie cam. It tops astatine 4K video astatine 60fps.

When we reviewed nan Razr Ultra, we recovered nan telephone captures photos pinch awesome move range, improved opposition and little grain. We besides found, however, that immoderate pictures showed flaws for illustration halos successful agleam light.

The Flip 8's main camera hardware is unchanged from its predecessor —but it could group itself isolated pinch its AI-powered camera enhancements. With nan integration of Galaxy AI done One UI 9, users summation entree to a bunch of caller devices for illustration Super Steady pinch Horizontal Lock and amended results successful low-light situations.

The Flip 8 runs connected nan Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, nan newest chipset disposable successful 2026. The Razr Ultra uses nan Snapdragon 8 Elite, nan aforesaid exemplary that powered its 2025 model. The Flip 8's newer spot will grip demanding tasks and AI workloads much efficiently, while nan tighter package integration pinch One UI 9 should present an optimized capacity crossed Samsung's galore AI features. Samsung's caller telephone besides ships pinch Android 17 retired of nan box, while nan Razr Ultra launched connected Android 16. While nan Razr is eligible for nan upgrade, it whitethorn return a spot earlier it gets there.

Another point to see is nan truth that Samsung promises 7 years of OS updates for nan Flip 8, while Motorola offers only 3 years for Razr Ultra.

The Razr Ultra has a clear advantage erstwhile it comes to artillery life. Its 5,000mAh artillery is importantly larger than nan Flip 8's 4,300 mAh cell. In our review, nan Razr Ultra lasted 31 hours successful our section video playback test. By comparison, it's difficult to ideate nan Z Flip 8 coming close, since it uses nan aforesaid 4,300mAh artillery capacity arsenic its predecessor. For reference, nan Galaxy Z Flip 7 managed conscionable 18.5 hours successful nan aforesaid test.

When it comes to charging, nan Flip 8 supports 25W wired charging and 15W wireless. That's measurement slower than Razr Ultra's 68W wired and 30W wireless speeds. We should mention, however, that Motorola uses a proprietary TurboPower protocol to scope those highest charging speeds, truthful you'll request to bargain a compatible Motorola adapter arsenic nan telephone container doesn't see one. On apical of nan $1,500 phone.

If you want nan latest processor and champion capacity longevity, worth 7 years of package updates and for illustration a lighter, thinner, much pocketable device, nan Flip 8 is for you. If you want amended artillery life, faster charging, a unique creation and a smoother main display, nan Razr Ultra mightiness beryllium nan 1 for you.

Both phones connection incremental updates complete their predecessors, but neither marque is swinging for a complete overhaul. The Galaxy Z Flip 8 edges retired nan Razr Ultra, offering a newer, faster chip, 7 years of updates, a redesigned AI-native screen surface and a $300 little starting price. For now, nan Galaxy Z Flip 8 is nan smarter bargain astatine launch. If you want a fewer months, you could prime up nan Razr Ultra for a overmuch amended price.